Morrison’s secret ministries breached Coalition agreement, Nationals Senate leader says
Nationals leader in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie, a former cabinet minister under Scott Morrison, says the former prime minister’s actions were a breach of the Coalition agreement.
My concern as the leader of the Nationals in the Senate is that the arrangements breached the Coalition agreement.
My view is that the National party would not have agreed with having one of its leaders removed.
… it shows great disrespect on behalf of the prime minister to our party.
Key events
Wage growth to be a key focus at jobs summit
Tony Burke, the employment minister, is speaking to Sky News following the release of latest wages figures which showing Australians’ real wages are the lowest in 20 years.
Burke says Australians will see real wage growth when there is a “crossover point as inflation starts to fall that wages move forward”.
He says the pay equity gap for women needs to be addressed, which feeds into the government’s case for raising aged care wages.
As for who will be attending the government’s upcoming jobs and skills summit, Burke confirms the Nationals leader David Littleproud will be in attendance in addition to “big representation” from business and union movements.
‘Good’ posture doesn’t prevent back pain
Researchers from Curtin University are turning preconceived ideas about posture and back pain on their head in an article published today in the Conversation.
Peter O’Sullivan, Leon Straker and Nic Saraceni say having ‘good’ posture doesn’t prevent back pain, and ‘bad’ posture doesn’t cause it. They write:
Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide.
…There is a common belief that “good” posture is important to protect the spine from damage, as well as prevent and treat back pain.
Conversely, “slump” sitting, “slouch” standing and lifting with a “round back” or stooped posture are frequently warned against. This view is widely held by people with and without back pain, as well as clinicians in both occupational health and primary care settings.
Surprisingly, there is a lack of evidence for a strong relationship between “good” posture and back pain. Perceptions of “good” posture originate from a combination of social desirability and unfounded presumptions.
Alleged Melbourne body snatcher dies
Police say an alleged grave robber accused of stealing heads from human corpses has died, AAP reports.
Tristan Hearne, 41, was due to appear in Melbourne magistrates court on Wednesday, charged with seven offences after human remains were stolen from mausoleums at Footscray general cemetery in Yarraville.
The body parts were stolen from graves between 28 January and 1 February, with detectives later uncovering them at a Footscray property.
Hearne was accused of twice removing heads from human corpses, exhuming remains from a place of interment on two occasions and damaging a family’s mausoleum three times, court documents revealed.
After he failed to face court on Wednesday, magistrate David Langton issued a warrant for his arrest.
He noted Hearne’s fairly stringent bail conditions, including that he present to police during his curfew hours.
Police later confirmed Hearne died on 5 July.
His death was not being treated as suspicious, with officers preparing a report for the coroner.
Real wages growth over the Morrison term of government ‘not good’
Guardian columnist Greg Jericho shows the total growth of real wages over the Morrison term of government, which can be calculated now that the June quarter wage figures came in yesterday.
Victoria records 46 Covid deaths and 497 people in hospital
There were 4,416 new cases in the last reporting period and 27 people are in intensive care.
Authorities said:
Of today’s 46 reported deaths, 36 occurred in the past week, a further eight deaths occurred in the past fortnight and two deaths occurred in late July.
NSW records 43 Covid deaths and 2,046 people in hospital
There were 8,149 new cases in the last reporting period and 54 people are in intensive care.
COVID-19 update – Thursday 18 August 2022
In the 24-hour reporting period to 4pm yesterday:
– 96.9% of people aged 16+ have had one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine*
– 95.4% of people aged 16+ have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine* pic.twitter.com/Jz40boaPR2— NSW Health (@NSWHealth) August 17, 2022
Lorena Allam
PM travels to Torres Strait today to build momentum for the voice
Sarah Martin and Lorena Allam
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will travel to the Torres Strait today to meet with first nation leaders as he seeks to build momentum for an Indigenous voice to parliament.
Albanese will make the visit with the minister for Indigenous affairs, Linda Burney, and Queensland Labor senator Nita Green as part of an extended trip to Queensland where the prime minister is keen to boost his government’s standing.
As part of the visit to Thursday Island he will meet with the Torres Strait Regional Authority and also join young Torres Strait Islanders at a cultural lunch.
Albanese said a leaders’ roundtable would discuss the voice to parliament and he would also attend a “a come one, come all forum” to discuss the voice to parliament, which the government has pledged to take to a referendum in this term.
Albanese said on Wednesday:
I want to engage with Australians both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, to consult with them.
I’ll be talking to the Torres Strait Islanders about the issue of the voice, but also other issues as well. I think that it’s important that the Australian prime minister talk with people in every region of Australia, and that we’re accountable for that.
Damaging winds warning in regional Victoria
SEVERE WEATHER WARNING for DAMAGING WINDS
For people in parts of Central, East Gippsland, North Central, North East, West and South Gippsland and South West Forecast Districts.
Stay informed: https://t.co/T05ONtObdB
Damaging winds extending eastward on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/zEKTf0gQb4
— VicEmergency (@vicemergency) August 17, 2022
Massive 750kg ice bust in Sydney
Three men are accused of being part of a criminal syndicate that imported almost 750 kilos of methylamphetamine in shipping containers into Sydney, AAP reports.
Acting on a tip-off, Australian Border Force officers found the haul secreted in numerous sea cargo containers which arrived at Port Botany last month.
Police say the 748kg of methylamphetamine has an estimated potential street value of more than $675m.
Detectives from the NSW Drug and Firearms Squad arrested three men over the stash on Wednesday.
They were all refused bail to appear at court later on Thursday.
NSW police commissioner Karen Webb will be joined by senior officers from State Crime Command and Australian Border Force to address the media about the bust later today.
Melissa Davey
Greens leader calls for a ‘NurseKeeper’
Greens leader Adam Bandt will call for two individual $5,000 payments for nurses and paramedics when he speaks at the National Nurses Forum in Darwin today.
Bandt wants the government to fund a “NurseKeeper” scheme to deal with high levels of stress and burnout among nurses, and recognise their work during the pandemic, paid for by dropping stage-three tax cuts for high-income earners.
Bandt will tell the forum that the scheme should include a one-off payment now and another in 12 months to the country’s 320,000 nurses and paramedics, according to a draft of his speech seen by Guardian Australia. It would cost an estimated 1.3% of the $244bn cost of the stage three tax cuts, Bandt will say.
Bandt will tell the forum:
At the Jobs Summit, the Greens will push for a national ‘NurseKeeper’ program, seeking the government and the community’s support to recognise the burden nurses are under and stop nurses leaving the profession.
NurseKeeper should be designed in consultation with unions and professional bodies.
The federal government should also take the lead in ensuring there’s a proper shift bonus for hospital workers, no matter what state they work in. It’s thoroughly affordable.
Governor general’s statement suggests he didn’t warn Morrison, constitutional expert says
Carrying on from ABC Radio interview with Luke Beck, a professor in constitutional law at Monash University.
Beck says we don’t know whether the governor general warned the prime minister.
But at the same time the governor general’s statement suggests that that never happened.
The governor general said he had no reason to believe that none of these appointments were being publicly communicated. So if he had no reason to doubt that, he would have had no basis for warning the prime minister.
But we know the governor general in fact knew these things were not being made public after the first one was kept secret. So the fact we’ve had these two evasive statements from the governor general raises more questions. We don’t know what happened behind the scenes but we know the governor general claims in a very implausible way that he knew nothing about this all being kept secret for so long.
There are lots of questions about what went on behind the scenes. Did Scott Morrison effectively instruct the governor general to keep it secret? We don’t know.
Constitutional expert calls ‘bullshit’ on governor general
A spokesperson for the governor general, David Hurley, has said “the governor general had no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated” but a professor in constitutional law has called “bullshit” on this defence.
Luke Beck, a professor at Monash University, appeared on ABC Radio earlier this morning expressing scepticism at the statement:
The governor general’s statement … particularly the statement where he says that he had no reason to think that these appointments would not be communicated, I call bullshit on that.
He in fact actually knew. Maybe he didn’t know for the first appointment. But after that first appointment was never publicised, he then appointed Morrison to four other additional ministries. And on each occasion the governor general knew that none of those were being made public.
So the governor general in fact knew after the first one that these were not being communicated publicly, so that part of the statement is misleading.
This is vice-regal arse covering.
The GG knew that the appointments were being kept secret over the course of years.
The GG knew cabinet, parliament and the public were being misled.
The GG kept Morrison’s secrets https://t.co/6ZTB14ptaS
— Luke Beck (@DrLukeBeck) August 17, 2022